Maddox

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of nonsuit. Plaintiffs are husband and wife and the wife, Doreen, is the daughter of the defendant.

The action went to trial on the third amended complaint. The first count of this complaint seeks a decree that the defendant holds certain real property in trust for the plaintiffs and the defendant in accordance with the terms of an oral agreement therein alleged. The other counts, four in number, seek a money judgment from defendant for moneys expended by plaintiffs in the improvement of the real property and the establishment of a chicken business thereon and for damages for breach of the oral agreement establishing the trust.

It needs no citation of authority for the rule that if the evidence viewed most favorably for the plaintiffs would support a judgment for any of the relief prayed for the judgment of nonsuit to that extent is erroneous.

The real property involved is ranch property. This property was originally acquired by the father of plaintiff, Doreen, and the defendant while they were husband and wife. The father died in 1950 and the ranch property passed to defendant upon his death. The complaint alleges with regard to this…